Golden Goose CEO Silvio Campara explains how sneakers have become the defining symbol of modern luxury, replacing handbags as markers of confidence and identity. The brand focuses on emotion over product, using co-creation, customisation and repair to turn sneakers into personal canvases and memory keepers, building an “emotional culture” where experiences, not objects, are the true luxury.
“Every day we try to make a difference by helping people find a better version of themselves through something simple — doing something on a sneaker!” says Silvio Campara, CEO, Golden Goose. When asked, "Why sneakers?", he is candid.
“Because sneakers became the symbol of our generation. Luxury always mirrors society. Bags symbolised the empowerment of women after World War II, when women began working, voting, and became financially independent. The handbag became their portable office. But today, women no longer need bags to define confidence. That’s why the industry must evolve beyond its comfort zone. Every luxury brand can still remain relevant, but only if it is willing to take risks and stay close to people. Our symbol happens to be a sneaker. In the old world, the symbols were bags, jewellery, or bottles of whisky. That world no longer exists."
Today, Golden Goose operates in 74 countries, with 267 stores and over 3,000 employees.
Silvio Campara (SC): Absolutely not. I cannot compete with giants like Zara on product alone. My territory is emotion. They create products at the right price. We create emotional experiences.
Nearly 37 per cent of our business already comes from co-creation experiences. We are one of the only brands where experiences directly contribute to the business model.
Changing laces, writing on sneakers, customising details — these aren’t superficial add-ons. They transform the product into something deeply personal and memorable. Eventually, I believe we won’t just create products with experiences attached. The experience itself will become the product. That’s the future.
SC: Next Gen sneakerisation means the sneaker is no longer just part of the outfit—it becomes the starting point of personal style. The look is built from the sneaker up, not the other way around.
For consumers, especially younger generations, this changes the logic of dressing: the sneaker becomes a canvas for identity, emotion, and storytelling. It’s no longer about following trends, but about expressing a point of view.
Through co-creation, each sneaker becomes a way of telling a personal story and expressing individual style, defining and inspiring the entire look around it.
SC: Golden Goose has recently launched Arts & Crafts, a global workshop programme celebrating the art of creating with your own hands. It marks a meaningful evolution of our stores—shifting from traditional retail spaces into places where people come together to make and create. It’s the next step in our vision of “craftainment,” where craftsmanship meets entertainment, and creativity becomes a shared experience.
The first workshops invite guests to explore techniques such as textile printing, clay, woodwork, and tufting, guided by artisans. Each participant leaves not just with an object, but with a memory they have personally created.
It’s about slowing down, disconnecting from digital noise, and rediscovering the joy of making. This concept will then scale globally, with flagship expressions such as HAUS Milano, our largest creative hub.
SC: India is extremely important. We are actually the only brand that opened directly in India with three stores, rather than operating through a partner. For us, being directly connected to customers matters immensely. If we are intermediated, we lose access to the relationship and the data that help us understand and serve our customers better. That was the reason [we chose to open directly in India]. And this year, something very big is going to happen. India is incredibly important for us.
SC: India and Italy share something fundamental — family. Family is everything in your culture, just as it is in ours. And nowhere is that more beautifully expressed than through Indian weddings. Indian weddings are not just ceremonies; they are emotional beginnings, experiences you can only understand once you’ve lived them.
Collaborating with Manish Malhotra felt natural because he understands the language and emotions of India perfectly. That’s how I look at collaborations — not through products, but through feelings.
SC: I’ve genuinely seen honest efforts across the industry. And luxury, compared to fast fashion, is far less polluting. But where we made a difference was in redefining sustainability through durability. When we introduced in-store sneaker repair services, we weren’t just repairing products — we were preserving memories. People become emotionally attached to their sneakers because they carry experiences. We now repair over 40,000 pairs every year. That’s not just sustainability — that’s emotional sustainability!
People might come because of a product, but they return because of a memory.
As for AI — I love it. It’s going to make us more efficient. But ironically, as technology becomes more dominant, humanity becomes more scarce. That’s the real luxury of the future: human connection. Sooner or later, people will seek spaces and experiences that reconnect them with humanity. That’s where we want to exist.
SC: Recycled and upcycled fashion, for me, is not a trend—it’s about giving longer life to pieces we have loved for a long time or giving new life to pieces that we are no longer using.
In my own wardrobe, I keep a few pieces that have been reworked over time—items repaired, re-detailed, or reinterpreted rather than replaced. They carry history, and that’s what makes them meaningful.
Conscious luxury is exactly this: understanding that the most luxurious object is the one that lasts emotionally as well as physically. It’s about responsibility, but also about emotional connection—it’s about giving new life to the pieces people cherish most.
SC: Stop desire. Start dreaming.
Stop excluding. Start including.
Stop talking. Start listening.
Stop goodness. Welcome kindness.
And embrace empathy completely — with your body, your soul, and your mind. That is the future.
SC: Very simple: not buying something, but doing something. That’s the essence of the brand. We don’t just speak about experiences — experiences are part of our business model. Customisation, repairs, storytelling, memory-making — all of it has real value. Ultimately, we are not building products. We are building an emotional culture.